The Italian Presidency of the European Union’s official website will only publish in English and Italian, meaning it will not be translated into French or German for the first time since 2007, EURACTIV France reports.

The Italians, who take over from the Greek Presidency on 1 July, have opted not to translate their official website, which goes live in the next few days, to French, German or any of the other 24 official languages of the EU, to save money. The choice was made by EnricoLetta’s government and approved by his successor, MatteoRenzi, Italy’s Prime Minister who will be at the controls of the EU until December, 2014.

The decision shows how English has become increasingly dominant in European communications, especially when compared to the European Commission’s two other official working languages – French and German.

Multi-linguist tradition

Since 2007, all EU presidencies made a point of offering multilingual websites. They have always included German, French, English and their national language.

Although the European Union has 24 official languages, the working languages of the European Commission are just English, French and German.

During their Presidency in 2008, France went beyond the call of duty and translated their website into Polish, Spanish and Italian. In 2010, Spain also produced versions in their main regional languages of Catalan, Basque and Galatian.

Greece, which is currently President of the Council, had a mandate marked by austerity and limited their spending to €50 million. Despite their tight budget, the official website still offered four languages: Greek and the three EU working languages, English, French and German.

Reaction

Italy’s decision has caused a stir among MEPs. “It is a disgrace” said Michèle Rivasi, the leader of the French Greens in the European Parliament. “Considering the rise of Euroscepticism in wake of the European elections, this decision almost comes as provocation,” she continued.

According to the French MEP, budget cuts do not justify the decision to leave out French and German. “Cuts could have been made elsewhere, for example, on the Presidency’s subsistence costs or on transport.”

“I think we will call on the Presidency of the European Parliament to address this issue,” she said.

Italy’s decision not to limit the translation of their official language is not an isolated case. English has emerged as the most dominant working language of the EU institutions over the past few years, at the expense of French and German.

Background

The main responsibility of the Presidency is to preside over the creation of EU legislation, a task shared with the European Parliament, to ensure the continuity of the EU agenda, orderly legislative processes, and to represent the interests of all the member states.

The rotating Presidency heads the EU Council and its preparatory bodies (working parties and committees), and organises various formal and informal meetings in Brussels as well as in the country of the rotating Presidency. It hosts discussions in the EU Council and seeks the broad consensus of its members during debates on important matters for the entire EU, while making decisions.

The rotating Presidency represents the EU Council in relations with other EU institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Parliament, and it also shapes its relations with other EU institutions. In order to ensure the continuity of the Council agenda and the coherent transfer of the Presidency, the member states holding the rotating Presidency closely cooperate in trios. This system was introduced in 2009 with the Lisbon Treaty. The trio sets the long-term goals and prepares a common agenda for an 18-month period.

The Lisbon Treaty established two new functions; the President of the European Council, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. With these innovations the role of the rotating Presidency has changed, since it does not preside over meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council anymore. The rotating Presidency, however, continues its close cooperation with the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

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Comments

0 responses to “Italian Presidency website will not be in French or German”

Doesn’t Google Chrome work in these countries, just open the site in Chrome & hey Presto it changes to whatever language you want, I know the EU hates Google & probably doesn’t want to use it but it’s there & its free to use!

If you think that an automatic translator can do the job you’re awfully wrong. If you think that a computer is enough for the task, you obviously have no idea on how complex and “Human” is translating to or from another language.

Well I can talk to my phone it picks up every word perfectly (Samsung Galaxy) & it then delivers the result either verbally or written within seconds in any language. I have used it many time in Poland & it works perfectly. I don’t see what the fuss is. Translating costs a fortune & we are all paying for it.

I find this change very significant. The serious case against the possibility of establishing European democracy has been that there is no European demos. The lack of a shared identity and in particular the absence of a common language made the idea of reaching decisions democratically following a European conversation an impossibility.

The fact that the Italians are willing to accept French hostility in order to emphasise the importance of a common language is impressive. There is clearly a great deal of life in the European Project yet!

The irony is that the country which produced the common language clearly rejects being part of the European demos.

lot’s of languages are communication killer !
There are member-states You have to learn 3 languages -German French English besides you own motherlanguage and other school subjects !!
My suggest would be preferaby first be the Mother-language and then the english!

As joe says “Translating costs a fortune & we are all paying for it”!
Of course english only would be logically be the best choice !

Français is a disaster language ! Most of les français don’t even write correctly en français !
As i ve heard less than only 5% of french citizens are able to learn and speak that mere tool !
They’re too lazy …

Why should other member-states like Juncker’s Luxembourg adapt three more languages ( français Deutsch and English) bedside the mother language whilst a country like France is willing-less to learn the English!
This is disgracefull and shelfish l !
To be serious and keen! Europe has an existent communication issue actually !